Cochin Shipyard Delivers Third Anti-Submarine Corvette to Indian Navy
INS Mangrol carries more than 80% indigenous content across a programme of eight vessels
Cochin Shipyard has delivered INS Mangrol, the third of eight indigenously designed and built anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft, to the Indian Navy.
The vessel was handed over at the builder's Kochi facility on Friday. The delivery protocol was signed by Cochin Shipyard director of operations Harikrishnan S. and Commander U. Sharan Kumar, commanding officer designate of the ship, in the presence of senior officials from the yard and the Navy.
Mangrol is designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare in shallow coastal waters and is equipped for underwater surveillance, search and rescue, and low intensity maritime operations. It also carries a mine-laying capability. The armament comprises lightweight torpedoes, indigenous anti-submarine rockets and advanced shallow-water sonars, alongside modern radar and detection systems for tracking underwater threats close inshore.
Propulsion is by diesel engine and waterjet, and the vessel was designed and constructed in accordance with the classification rules of DNV. The Indian Navy has stated that Mangrol carries more than 80% indigenous content, with design and construction both handled by Cochin Shipyard. That figure is the metric the programme is being judged on, since the strategic case for building small combatants domestically rests on the supply chain rather than on the hulls themselves.
The name carries forward from the coastal township of Mangrol in Gujarat, and from the former minesweeper INS Mangrol, which was decommissioned in 2004.
The delivery is the third under the Navy's programme for eight anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft. The class is designed for operations in coastal waters, where shallow depths demand specialised systems for detecting and tracking submarines and where larger frigates and corvettes are poorly suited to the acoustic environment. Additional roles across the class include search and rescue, low intensity maritime operations and mine laying.
The programme runs in parallel with Cochin Shipyard's commercial work, which includes an order for six 1,700 teu feeder container ships and a series of ice-class multipurpose vessels for European owners, and the yard's continuing technical relationship with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
